


Always Another Secret

by You_Are_Constance



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Carrie Wilson Redemption, Carrie being the boss she is, Carrie finds out about her dad's past, Changing POV, F/M, Flashbacks, Gen, I don't know what else to tag so good luck, Julie has always been able to see ghosts, Julie has magic, Julie is in danger, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot Twists, Post-Canon, Ray finds out about the guys, Reggie gets a puppy because he deserves one, The band gets a lot of important phone calls, Willie is rescued, and other ships might be included, ish, like major plot twist, ships are included but not the focus, uh oh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Are_Constance/pseuds/You_Are_Constance
Summary: So listen to the words a wise man saidHe said: “Covington, I got an offer that you can't refuse.”-Unbeknownst to many, Caleb Covington is not the most powerful ghost out there. There’s someone else, eons above what Caleb Covington is capable of doing.When Caleb fails to collect the boy’s magic, he knows that he’ll be punished for it. As a last resort, he possesses Nick, a friend of Julie’s, in order to get closer to her and the guys. It seems like a faultless plan, but there is one thing that Caleb wasn’t prepared for.-Taking place directly after the end of Season 1, Julie tries to find answers to how and why she is able to touch the guys and trying to juggle school and the band, which is growing more popular by the second, while multiple evil spirits are plotting against her.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 14
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heeeey this is my first multi-chapter jatp fic so i hope y'all like it!! it was entirely based on the lyrics that i have in my summary, mainly the second line. my brain just jumped around until it landed on something random and then this was born
> 
> title is from the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson (i haven't actually read these books but I've read other stuff of his)
> 
> updates will be every Saturday as long as I'm far enough ahead in writing it (which at the moment I am)
> 
> please no swearing in comments or I'll delete them

_Caleb Covington,_ the voice filled his mind, _you let them out of your hands and you didn’t destroy them._

“Not yet I haven’t,” Caleb tried to protest. “But I swear to you, I will have them, or no one will.”

_You have missed your chance._

“Wait, no! Give me one more chance and I swear, their magic will be mine—er, yours.”

_You will stay at your position at your club, and that is the last of it. You have failed me and must be punished for it._

“But—” he tries again to convince the voice that he’s never seen the face of to give him another chance, but the usual feeling leaves him and he knows that the voice is gone.

But if he can still gain control of the boy’s power, he can earn back the voice’s trust and maybe, maybe, finally become who he truly deserved to be.

* * *

Julie closed the door behind her when Nick left. It was so nice of him to bring her flowers, even after she’d shut him down not that long ago.

She came inside, finding a vase to put the flowers and placing it on the counter. She stood back and grinned at them again before returning to the table and finishing her breakfast.

She’d never be so grateful that today was a weekend, because there was no way she would have been able to handle going to school so quickly after last night.

Julie had to come inside rather quickly after the whole ‘touch’ thing happened last night. She could hardly sleep, partially for excitement over what had happened, partially for fear that they hadn’t actually been able to stay and she had dreamt it up.

But she’d checked first thing in the morning, and they were still with her.

Not only were the guys still with her, not having crossed over or stopped existing or anything else, but they were slightly more… real. To her, at least.

Carlos had confronted Julie immediately after she came inside last night, and Julie was considering telling Ray soon, since she knew Carlos would end up spilling it sooner or later.

“Who was at the door?” Ray called from the other room.

“A friend from school!” Julie answered as Ray walked into the kitchen. “He was there last night, and brought me flowers this morning.”

Ray noticed the vase sitting on the counter. “How nice of him.”

Julie cleared her plate and very nearly went out to the studio without saying anything, but she turned around and blurted, “I have something to tell you.”

“Is something wrong, Julie?” He looked concerned.

Julie shook her head. “It’s just… It’s something that I should have told you a long time ago.”

She leads him out to the studio, but before opening the doors, she says, “About the band… they aren’t holograms. They’re ghosts.”

Ray just grins at her. “Is this some sort of joke that both you and Carlos are in on?”

“No, well, I mean, we both know about it, but it isn’t a joke.” She was rambling. “The guys really are ghosts. They’re from a band called Sunset Curve. Three of the four members died in 1995 and they came back as ghosts.”

“Julie,” says Ray, crossing his arms, “there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Dad, please. Just give me a chance.”

Ray’s gaze softened slightly. “Tell me about these ghost friends of yours.”

Julie grinned. “Well, they’re right inside, if you’d like to meet them.”

She turned around and opened the doors, still facing Ray as he came into the studio.

“Is… is something supposed to be different in here?”

“What?”

Julie spun around and sure enough, the guys were there, but apparently Ray still couldn’t see them.

“I would have thought, after last night…”

“Can he not see us?” asks Luke.

Julie shook her head. “Change of plans.” She turns back to Ray. “Just… stay right there. We’re gonna play something for you.”

Ray smiled. “Julie—”

“Dad, just do this for me.”

Ray shrugged and sat down where Julie instructed him to.

Then Julie told the guys what to play, and they began.

Ray appeared to be blasted back when the guys began playing with her.

Similar to when Julie first did this with Flynn, they continued playing quietly while Julie continued talking with Ray.

“Dad, these are the guys. Luke, Alex, and Reggie.”

Ray didn’t respond, he just looks at them.

“Hi!” says Reggie, Luke and Alex also mumbling greetings.

“They aren’t holograms,” Julie reminded Ray. She nods at the guys and they stop playing, then soon disappear to Ray. She moved out from behind the keyboard and brings out her phone. She looks up ‘Sunset Curve’ again to show Ray, then holds out her phone to him. He takes it and begins looking at it.

Julie looks back at the guys, still standing around behind her.

Ray eventually looks back up and hands Julie back her phone.

“So you say that these guys… your band… are ghosts from 1995?”

Julie nods. “I know, it’s weird, and we’re not entirely sure how it happened either, but I’m not lying.”

Ray looks around the studio. “And these guys… they’re still here, right?”

Julie nods again, grinning. “They’re around here a lot.”

It’s at that moment when Carlos come into the studio.

“Oh, so Dad gets to meet them before I do?”

“You know?” says Ray.

Carlos nods, crossing his arms over his chest. “I figured it out all on my own.”

“Yeah, well, if Reggie hadn’t messed with you so much, you probably wouldn’t have,” mumbles Alex. Julie decides to ignore that for right now.

“You can both meet them,” says Julie as she goes behind the keyboard again. “Second chorus,” she tells them, and Alex begins counting them off.

* * *

“What is going on?” Carrie exclaimed when her father forced them both out of the Orpheum and didn’t give a word of explanation.

“Sorry, baby,” he says, frantically running through the house. “Can’t explain.”

“Oh, I bet you can.”

Trevor is running through the house, grabbing random things as he goes, but Carrie just stands in the doorway, unmoving.

“Where are you going?” she yells when Trevor is running toward the helicopter pad. She knows that it isn’t to see his therapist (otherwise he wouldn’t be packing), but at the moment, it seems like he could need it.

“The cabin.”

“You’re leaving?!”

“Yes. Go pack.”

“I’m not leaving!”

He doesn’t respond, only starts toward the door again, but Carrie blocks his way out.

“You aren’t going anywhere until you tell me what is going on.”

Trevor stops and sighs.

“I was in a band,” he begins, “when I was in school. We were called ‘Sunset Curve.’”

He doesn’t keep going, so Carrie prompts him. “And?”

“They died.”

Oh. That wasn’t exactly what Carrie had been expecting.

“We were seventeen and on the verge of greatness… but tragedy kept it from us.”

He stops again. Carrie waits for him to continue, but he doesn’t.

“What exactly does this have to do with us leaving?”

Trevor sighs again. “Come with me.”

Carrie groans internally but follows him down a couple hallways into a different part of the house that she couldn’t remember ever being in.

Trevor leads her inside a door and only turns on the lights when she is inside.

Carrie is immediately surrounded by posters and merch, but most of it is just duplicates of everything. There isn’t that much of it, just a lot of the same things, over and over again.

The first thing that she takes in is the name ‘Sunset Curve.’ If her father told her the truth, it was the band that he was in, back when he was in school.

Then, as Carrie looks at everything a bit more closely, she recognizes the people in the posters. She recognizes three of them much more quickly than the others.

It’s the holograms, that were in Julie’s band.

And the fourth one is… her father.

Her father used to play with the same people that were in Julie’s band.

But that was, over 20 years apart. And Trevor said that his bandmates died.

They… Julie’s band… the holograms… they were ghosts. They had to be. It was the only possibility.

Carrie looks even more closely at one of the posters nearest to her. It listed the names of the band members. “Luke… Reggie… Bobby… and Alex…” She looks back up at her father. “It doesn’t say your name.”

“That’s cause I changed it,” he mumbled. “I was Bobby.”

“Bobby,” she repeated. He nods. “YOUR NAME WAS BOBBY?!” she screams, and he flinches. Carrie just laughed, but not a happy laugh, and Trevor could certainly tell.

She managed to stop laughing and look back up at Trevor.

“So Julie’s band… was your band?” He nods. “And they died over 20 years ago… and have now come back… as ghosts?”

“That’s what I’ve managed to figure out.”

“And why exactly aren’t you glad about this?” She puts her hand on her hip and studies her father’s face, which is full of dread and fear. “Your band is back! Ish,” she adds as an afterthought. “They’re still dead, I guess, but you could probably talk to them again… unless there’s something else you aren’t telling me that would change that.”

Trevor doesn’t reply and Carrie rolls her eyes.

“Can you just stop hiding things from me?” she eventually whispers, the words coming out a lot softer and more vulnerable than she had anticipated. “We’re family, Dad. We shouldn’t be keeping secrets from one another.”

Trevor let out another sigh (he’d done it a lot in just the past few minutes), and began to tell her.

* * *

Now it was Carrie’s turn to be the one hurrying out that next morning. When she’d first learned the truth about what her father had done, it had been far too late at night to do anything about it.

But it wasn’t late at night now.

She was storming out of her house and headed toward the Molina’s.

Trevor tried to get in her way and keep her from going, but Carrie was having none of it.

“Dad, you are coming with me, and you are going to apologize for what you did to those boys,” she insists, still walking toward the door. “Unless you want them to keep haunting you like you said they had already.”

Trevor’s face is full of fear, but Carrie isn’t stepping down.

She eventually manages to convince him, and then they both are heading out together.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl the "YOUR NAME WAS BOBBY?!" was one of my favorite things that i wrote in this chapter
> 
> I'm @you-are-constance on tumblr. come say hi!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, remembering that i get to post a chapter on Saturday was the only thing keeping me going this week. hope y'all like it!

Julie feels like she can finally breathe easily now that her family knows about the guys. More than just know about them, her family accepted them, and she doesn’t have to keep hiding it.

Flynn opens the doors to the studio and bursts in, visibly surprised at seeing Ray and Carlos.

“Jules, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” Julie replies. “I’ll be right back,” she says as Flynn pulls her outside, closing the garage doors behind them.

“What were you doing in there?”

“Well, I was…”

Oh. Flynn didn’t know. Not yet. Flynn thought the guys had crossed over.

“I almost forgot to tell you,” Julie exclaims. “The guys didn’t cross over after last night.”

Flynn gasps. “They didn’t?”

Julie shakes her head. “No, it wasn’t their unfinished business. I found them in here last night. They weren’t doing so well, but they still refused to save themselves, and the weirdest thing happened. Luke and I… we _touched._ Like, physically, and Luke started glowing. The same thing happened with Alex and Reggie.”

“Wait, wait, back up. You can _touch_ them now?”

Julie nods. “And they’re free from Caleb’s curse.”

“How do you suppose that happened?”

Julie shrugs. “I don’t know. We’re still kinda trying to figure that out.”

“Are they visible to others?”

“You know, I thought they might be,” says Julie, “but they aren’t, not yet, at least.”

Flynn looked over Julie’s shoulder towards the studio. “Are they in there?”

Julie nods as she turned around, only to see Luke, Alex, and Reggie peeking out the windows of the garage doors. She glared in their direction, which quickly made them disappear from the windows. She was grinning as she turned back to face Flynn.

“Did you tell your dad and Carlos about the guys?” was the next thing Flynn asks. “I saw them in there.”

Julie nods. “Well, Carlos kinda figured it out on his own, but yeah.”

“Are they… cool… with it?”

Julie nods again and smiles wider. “They took it really well. I don’t know why I was worried.”

Flynn lets out a deep sigh. “Well that is a _relief._ I don’t know how much longer I could keep it secret.”

Julie laughs, “I think you need to give yourself a bit more credit when it comes to keeping secrets.”

Julie and Flynn started back into the studio. Julie had almost closed the doors again when she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Two pairs of footsteps, even.

That didn’t exactly make sense. Who else did she even know?

Julie peeked back out toward the yard and saw just about the last two people she would ever have expected to be here anytime soon.

Carrie and her father, Trevor Wilson, or as the guys knew him, Bobby.

What were they doing here?

Julie almost closed the doors and pretended not to have seen them, as to avoid having to speak with them, but she knew it was likely that they had seen her.

Instead, she stepped back into the yard and closed the garage doors behind her yet again, walking toward where Carrie and Trevor were coming to.

“What exactly are you doing here?” asks Julie, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I know we haven’t exactly been on the best terms recently,” begins Carrie.

“That’s an understatement,” Julie huffs.

“But I wanted to say that you and your band did really well last night.”

That… wasn’t exactly what Julie had expected her to say next.

“You were there?”

Carrie nods. “Your song that you played… it was just, beautiful. Even beautiful isn’t a good enough word.”

Julie grins sheepishly and looks down at her feet. “Thanks, Carrie. It… it means a lot.”

She barely sees Carrie nod and smile from out of the corner of Julie’s line of sight. She looks back up as Carrie is looking back at Trevor.

“I think my dad has something he’d like to say to your bandmates, as well,” she says to him, sounding a bit snappish.

Julie takes a step back. “W-what exactly do you mean?”

Carrie just looks around the small area of the yard that they’re in currently. “Are they here?”

“Carrie—what are you talking about?”

“Your bandmates,” she says bluntly. “They’re ghosts, aren’t they? What were they’re names again, dad?”

Trevor looks completely uncomfortable in the moment, but Julie doesn’t feel bad for him in the slightest as he mumbles, “Luke, Reggie, and Alex.”

“That’s right!” says Carrie, turning back to facing Julie. “My dad has something he wants to say to them.” She glances around a bit more. “So… are they here?”

Julie shakes her head, giving up the act of trying to keep them a secret.

It seems like everyone was finding out today.

“They’re inside,” she says, motioning toward the studio.

She rolls her eyes at turning around and seeing not only the guys peeking out of the windows at her, but Flynn as well, all glaring.

Julie leads Carrie and Trevor toward the studio, opening the doors and motioning to let Carrie and Trevor enter.

* * *

“Uh, what is he doing here?” Luke asks, pointing to Bobby.

“Don’t know,” replies Alex, “but Julie doesn’t seem to mind.”

Luke doesn’t reply, just glares at Bobby through the windows of the garage doors. He’d long ago tuned out the conversation of the room (mainly tuning out Ray and Carlos) and had instead just begun to watch Julie.

“Oh, wait!” exclaims Reggie. “She’s turning around!”

The guys start ducking down, but not fast enough to avoid Julie’s gaze. She certainly saw them spying on her.

Oops.

Luke looked back out the window to see Julie leading Carrie and Bobby toward them.

“What are you doing, Julie?” he mumbles.

“She’s bringing them inside,” Reggie answers.

Luke rolls his eyes as Alex says, “Thanks, Reg. We can see that.”

“Well, you did ask,” Reggie points out.

Luke just nods and sighs. “Yes, I did.”

He backs away from the door as Julie enters with Carrie and Bobby.

Julie motions to where Luke, Alex, and Reggie gathered without looking away from Bobby. “They’re right there.”

Now Luke might just know what this is about, and he’s not entirely sure that he wants to stay for it.

That’s not really what he expected to be thinking in this moment.

Luke just watches as Bobby steps forward.

He's starting to consider the idea of just poofing out to avoid this conversation. 

Which, honestly, makes no sense whatsoever.

Hadn't he wanted Bobby to own up for what he'd done? Hadn't he wanted Bobby to apologize and give him credit for his own songs?

He still wants that, a little, maybe, but right now, at this very moment, he wants to avoid anything that had to do with Bobby.

Bobby opens his mouth as if he's going to speak to them but then turns away.

"Is there a possibility that we could be given a bit more privacy?"

"You don't deserve it!" Luke yells, and Julie glares at him for just a moment before turning around.

"Of course. Carlos—"

"Why do I have to leave?" he complains.

"Because you don't need to be here," she says curtly.

Carlos leaves, along with Ray, after Julie promises to explain a bit more soon.

Neither Flynn nor Carrie leaves and Julie makes no move as to change that.

Bobby looks as if he wants to ask for even more people to leave, but he doesn't. He must know that it's hopeless.

Luke smiles a bit smugly at that. 

"Well, Dad," Carrie prompts. "Didn't you have something you wanted to say?"

Luke decides that maybe Carrie isn't quite as bad now as she'd been before, according to Julie and Flynn.

"They're all here," Julie reminds him. "No better time than now."

Bobby seems to make a considerable effort to apologize, but it comes out sounding more than just forced and terrible. In fact, it's worse than Luke could have imagined.

"Really?" says Alex. "Is that all you've got?"

"Yeah, man, that really sucked," Luke agrees.

"I think saying nothing would have been better than having to hear that," Reggie adds.

Julie stifles a laugh, and Bobby, Carrie, and Flynn turn toward her.

"What did they say?" Carrie asks.

"It's not good enough," is the only thing Julie says to them, which is considerably nicer than their actual response.

"I agree," Flynn mumbles, barely audible to Luke.

"Try again," continued Julie.

Bobby's shoulders slump.

It's undoubtedly hard for him to apologize, but Luke doesn't care. After what he'd done to them, Luke didn't care how hard it was for him to apologize. He needed to.

Luke may have wanted to poof out and leave in the beginning, but he didn't want to now. No, he wanted an actual apology, one that was better than that.

"I did wrong," begins Bobby again. 

"Obviously," says Luke. "And?"

"I shouldn't have lied about your songs."

"That's an understatement," says Alex.

"And I'm sorry for it."

he doesn't continue.

"Is that it?" Luke exclaims.

"It was a bit better," considers Reggie, "but it was still pretty bad."

Bobby glances over to Julie, who just closes her eyes and shakes her head.

"This is stupid," he mumbles and tries to leave. "I'm apologizing to thin air!" he yells.

Carrie and Flynn simultaneously block the doors to keep him from leaving.

Luke smiles in satisfaction.

"You aren't leaving until we let you!" he exclaims, laughing.

Julie rolls her eyes at him then says to Bobby, "Just keep trying. You'll get it eventually." she's staring at Luke, Alex, and Reggie when she speaks, almost as a threat.

Well, then.

Just like Julie said, Bobby keeps trying to apologize to them. Luke wants to keep refusing it, just because it's fun to see Bobby squirm, but he's eventually forced to relent and say that it's good enough.

Except, it isn't. Not yet.

"There's one more thing we need," Luke decides.

"What?" Reggie asks, and Luke ignores him.

Julie speaks up to translate. "They say there's one more thing."

Although Bobby doesn't actually groan, Luke knows that he is.

"What?"

"We want credit for our songs."

This is one thing that he isn't going to lose. Not like he already has. It's time to make things right. 

Julie nods. she's on his side on this one.

"They want credit for their songs," she says to Bobby. 

"It's not as easy as you might think," Bobby insists immediately.

"What could be so hard about it?" Flynn asks sighs.

"They've been recorded as my songs for years, I can't just go back and change all that."

"You don't have to change the past, just the future," Alex points out.

"Alex says that you don't have to change the past, only the future," Julie repeats. 

"Dude, that was deep," Reggie says in awe.

"Coming out and saying that they aren't my songs will ruin everything I've built," Bobby insists.

"But you've built it on lies," says Julie. "It was going to fall anyway."

Bobby rubs his eyes. "Maybe we can come to a compromise."

"What kind of compromise?" Alex questions.

Julie relays the message, and Bobby replies, "I say the songs aren't completely mine, and that an old band of mine helped write it."

"Helped?" Luke exclaims. "They're my songs! And they deserve to be shown as that known as that!"

Alex grabs his arm. "Luke, it's better than anything else could be." 

"How much credit would Luke get?" says Reggie.

After Julie relays that message, Bobby replies, "Does it matter?"

"Very much so," hisses Luke.

"Luke says that it matters quite a lot."

Bobby audibly groans this time. "I don't know how much exactly, but partial credit. People will know that they are Sunset Curve songs, is that enough?"

Luke almost growls a 'no', but Alex's hand on his shoulder prevents him from doing so.

"Fine," he sighs.

Julie nods. "They've agreed."

With that, Bobby leaves, and Carrie starts after him but turns back around. to talk to Julie.

"I don't think I've apologized enough for how I've acted, either," she mumbles.

"You were pretty terrible," Flynn agrees.

"Flynn!" Julie accuses.

"No, she's right," says Carrie. "I really was terrible. To a lot of people, you two especially. You never deserved it, at least... not a lot."

"So we do only deserved it a little bit?" says Julie.

"Well, neither of us were very nice to each other, to be fair."

Julie shrugs. "I guess that's true. "

Carrie laughs quietly, "But I truly am sorry, Julie, and Flynn. I am so sorry, to both of you, and I know you probably can't forgive me, and that's fine. I just want you to know that."

She turns back around and leaves after her dad.

Julie doesn't move, just watching after watching the space where Carrie had been.

"Jules?" says Flynn. "You alright?"

Julie nods, breathing in a and turning to face them. "It's just... it feels, kinda good. Carrie and I were friends for a long time, and I like that we aren't really enemies anymore, even if we aren't friends again."

"Well, you can feel that way," says Flynn, "but I still don't like her."

"Alright," Julie laughs. "I'm going back inside, I still need to talk to my dad about some things."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think in this chapter, my favorite part was probably some of the dialogue. especially, Reggie's "Dude, that was deep," in response to Alex's "You don't have the change the past, just the future."  
> if anyone reading this has a favorite part, I'd love to hear it!


	3. Chapter 3

Julie shouldn't be surprised to find the guys already hanging around the house when she gets inside. It's happened a lot before, where they just poof in quickly, while she has to take the long way and actually walk, but she's never exactly prepared for it.

"Now, I know that you said you'd explain everything soon enough," Ray begins when Julie comes inside, "but I have to ask: How do Carrie and her dad fit into the whole 'ghost thing?'"

"That's easy," says Reggie. "We—"

"I got this, Reggie," says Julie, shooting her father a glance before saying, "The guys were in a band with Carrie's dad before they died."

"Uh-huh, and what as the 'apology' for?"

"Trevor stole their songs and passed them off as his own, but he's going to fix that soon."

Ray nodded. "Alright, I'm getting it so far, but is there a way but could you just... tell the whole story, to make sure I'm caught up on everything?"

Julie nods. "Carlos!" she calls since there is no way she's going to explain this more times than she needs to.

Carlos sits down beside her at the table, Ray sitting across from her, and the guys spread out around in other parts of the room. Flynn enters, and with only a brief greeting, goes directly to the fridge. It’s not an unusual occurrence.

"Well, do you want the beginning of my side of the story, or theirs?"

"Theirs," Carlos decides for them both, and Julie starts in.

Possibly hours later, since Julie is not very good at shortening stories (though there were a few parts that she left out on purpose... mostly about Luke…) Julie finally gets to the night before.

"And last night, when I went out to the studio after playing at the Orpheum, I thought they were gone, having crossed over, but they hadn't. It wasn't their unfinished business."

"But then how are they still here? Wouldn't the jolts have destroyed them?" Carlos asks excitedly. He's certainly invested in the story, to say the least.

"Shh. I'm getting to that part. The thing is that, last night, something changed between us, and now, I'm able to touch them, instead of just seeing them."

"Wow," says Carlos, his eyes going wide.

"Yeah, wow," Julie agrees. "But that's not it. When I touched them, they started glowing, and the stamps disappeared. They weren't getting any more jolts. They were free. And that's where you know up to," she finishes. 

"That's.... quite the story," says Ray.

Julie nods. "And you know I have to be telling the truth because there's no way I would have been able to come up with all that."

Ray nods as he stands up from the table. "I think, if we're going to have a bunch of ghosts staying here, we need a better way to communicate, instead rather than just relying on Julie to translate. What do you think?" He looks down at Julie, who nods.

"That would be great. What are you thinking?"

"Not sure yet..." says Ray, glancing around. "But... whiteboards, maybe?" They can... pick up objects, right?"

Julie almost nods, but then Reggie says, "Why don't you see and find out?"

He picks up a pillow from the couch and immediately tosses it at Carlos, who didn't see it coming in time.

"Hey!" Carlos exclaims. "Not fair!"

Julie flinches. "I guess you have your answer, then."

"And from now on we will need some ground rules," decides Ray, and Julie nods.

"Seriously, Reg?" sighs Alex, and Reggie just shrugs.

Ray begins listing off things that the guys are and aren’t allowed to do in the house, but Julie ends up tuning them out after a minute or two.

Julie looks up when Flynn gasps from the kitchen, immediately running over to Julie.

"After last night, the Julie and the Phantoms Insta page just absolutely blew up!" she exclaims, showing Julie her phone. "The same happened on Twitter and Snapchat. Everyone is talking about last night's performance. You'll be getting calls from managers left and right!"

"I'm surprised I haven't gotten something already," says Julie, checking her phone to make sure she hadn't missed something. She wasn't sure if the music industry ever really slept.

"We'll have to set up a system for calls for that," says Ray. "I don't want you getting distracted by calls coming in during school."

"We can set up an email," suggests Flynn. "Advertise it online. "

"Good idea," agrees Julie. "And if we get a manager, they can handle calls while I'm at school."

"So we just need a manager," says Flynn. Julie nods. 

How exactly did they go about finding a manager? Obviously, they'd have to book more gigs, become more available, that sort of thing. 

And what exactly happened when they had a manager?

When Julie first decided to join, or create, this band, she had no idea of everything that would have to go into it to make it really soar.

But even if it turned out being a lot more work than she had originally thought, it was still worth it to her. Playing music, especially with the guys, was worth anything.

It is at that moment when Julie starts feeling her phone buzz in her pocket.

She pulls it out of her pocket and looks at the screen.

Unknown caller.

Could it be?

Julie walks out toward the hall and answers the call.

“Hello, this is Andi Parker from Destiny Management, is this Julie from Julie and the Phantoms?”

She’s screaming inside. Somehow, she manages to stay calm enough in order to respond.

“Yes, this is her.”

“I believe we met a couple weeks ago?”

Julie nods to herself. “I remember.”

“Well, I would like to speak with you about the possibility of your band signing on with Destiny Management. Is there a time that we could set up a meeting this afternoon?”

“Yes, I believe so. I’m not busy.”

“Great. Does 4:30 sound alright to you?”

Julie scrambles to find paper and a pencil as she replies, “Yes, that sounds great. And, what is the address that I should be going to?” She manages to get ahold of a notebook with a pencil kept in the spiral binding.

Andi tells her the address slow enough for Julie to write it down, and then the call ends.

Julie steps back into the kitchen and is met with six faces staring at her.

“Well?” says Luke. “Who was it?”

It looks like Flynn is about to ask the same question, so Julie begins, “That was Andi Parker from Destiny Management—“

She’s barely able to get the last word out before the room explodes in celebration.

It doesn’t take longer than a few seconds for Luke to run toward her, take her in his arms, and swing her around. Julie laughs, and doesn’t notice that half the room went silent until her feet are back on the ground.

Then she sees Flynn, Ray, and Carlos, staring at her.

“…What?” she asks. She looks at Luke, and sees they aren’t staring at her, but at Luke. “Can you see him?”

Flynn is the first to respond as the others nod. “That’s new. What are you doing different?”

Julie looks at Luke, then pulls her hand away and steps back.

By their reaction, they can’t see him anymore.

Julie grabs his hand again.

“It’s like, they’re visible to others while you’re touching them!” Flynn exclaims. “That’s awesome!”

“Does it work for all of us?” Reggie asks, then runs over and grab’s Julie’s other hand.

Reggie waves to them. Carlos waves back, and Reggie’s smile takes over his entire face.

“This is so cool!”

Julie feels Alex place his hand on her shoulder, and she assumes that he becomes visible, too.

“But can we touch you?” Flynn wonders aloud, walking over and sticking her hand out to Reggie.

Just like before, her hand went right through him.

“Interesting,” Julie mumbles. She wonders for just a moment how this all could have happened, but pushes that thought off.

First order of business was proper introductions.

And then preparing for a very important meeting.

* * *

“Alex, are you coming?” Luke asks as they’re preparing to leave to meet Julie, Flynn, and Ray at the Destiny Management building.

“Yeah, man, we’re gonna be late if we don’t leave soon,” Reggie adds.

The whole plan was for them to be in the room, but not close enough to Julie that she might accidentally touch them to make them visible.

This whole ‘touch’ thing was going to take some getting used to.

Alex shook his head after a minute. “You two go on. I… I have something else that I need to attend to.”

Reggie looks at him confused for a minute while Luke seems to understand.

Luke rests his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Be careful,” he warns. “We don’t know what still could be out there.”

Alex nods. “I know.”

“And good luck,” Luke adds.

“Ooooh,” says Reggie, finally catching up. “You’re going—”

“Yeah, Reg,” Alex interrupts. “Tell me how it goes.”

“We will,” says Luke, then he and Reggie poof out.

Alex waits around for just a minute before poofing out, but not to the same place that Luke and Reggie had gone to.

Instead, Alex appears on the streets of Hollywood. He only looks around for a moment before starting to walk along them, watching the sidewalks for any sign.

He doesn’t know if he’s in the right place. He doesn’t know where he needs to be. He doesn’t even know if looking will make any difference, but he has to try.

He has to try to find Willie, or he’d never forgive himself.

As far as Alex knows, Willie thinks that he’s crossed over. Willie thinks that he’s gone, away from the whole mess that was the world.

Alex can’t help but wonder if Willie mourned for him, but he also doesn’t particularly want to think about that.

He tries to lock that thought out as he keeps searching.

Alex walks along these same streets, over and over, hoping for some sign of him, but there's still nothing. He eventually gives up on these streets and walks to the next place that he knows Willie has been.

He tries the skate park, knowing that even though Willie likes skating in places where he wasn't allowed to be, it's still a place where Willie has spent a lot of time. Still no sign of him.

Then he tries the Orpheum. They were there, together, just yesterday, but it feels so long ago already. So much has happened since he's last seen Willie.

And still no sign.

Alex tries the museum. It was where Willie had first taken him, one of the first places they really connected.

No sign of him there. 

Alex wants to scream, he wants to cry. He's screamed in here before, with Willie, and it helped. Just a little bit, but it still helps.

And he does it again. He screams into the empty museum, but it feels slightly wrong, doing it, without Willie here too.

It doesn’t make him feel better, like Willie said it would, but just screaming, just yelling, letting everything out, it helps give Alex a bit more strength to go on and keep looking.

But he still wants to cry. He doesn't know where Willie is, and he just wants to find him, so badly. He just wants to... see him, again.

And maybe he wants a little more than that, but just seeing Willie again would be enough, at this point. Just knowing that he's alright, but Alex doesn't know that.

Alex doesn't know if Caleb might have done something to Willie, might have... might have...

Oh.

There's one place that Alex hasn't checked yet.

The only problem is that is' it's dangerous. So very dangerous.

If something went wrong, Alex could lose everything. More than everything.

He can't do it. He can't, but he needs to, so badly. 

Julie would disapprove. So would Luke and Reggie. They'd all disapprove, and heck, even Alex disapproves, but he doesn't really have another choice right now, does he?

He has to go back to the Hollywood Ghost Club.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Alex! Bad Alex! Stop trying to move the plot forward!
> 
> disclaimer: i didn't do a ton of research on anything in the music industry. it's quite likely that something is wrong, so be aware of that.


End file.
